Craigbane 1-11 Rockcorry 2-8
Ulster Club Football League
Craigbane 1-11 Rockcorry 2-8
Team: Jamie Smith, Colin Reilly, Garry Calvert, Rory Carroll, Ryan Sharkey, Colin Quinn, Keelan Clerkin, Martin Carroll, Liam Connolly, Johnny Reilly, Noel Carroll, Stephen McGuirk (0-3), Conor McGeough (1-0), Dwayne Rooney (0-5), Mark McGuirk (1-0). Subs; Paul McKeown for Conor McGeough, Anthony Tate for Ryan Sharkey, Declan McCullagh for Keelan Clerkin and Conor McGeough for Liam Connolly,
We travelled to Derry (taking the scenic route) to play our second game of the Ulster club football league against Craigbane on Sunday 14th February. While we were missing a number of our regular first team players with injuries this was a great opportunity for the remaining players to create a name for themselves and make a claim for a first team position.
The home team was quicker out of the blocks and within five minutes Craigbane scored their first point from a free kick after Martin Carroll was deemed to pull down his opponent on the 21m line. Two minutes later Craigbane capitalised on a poor clearance and curled over a neat point from play. We opened our account in the 7th minute when Johnny Reilly was fouled and Dwayne Rooney sent over a cracking long range point. The kick-out was brilliantly fielded by Martin Carroll who passed to the oncoming Keelan Clerkin who in turn set up Liam Connolly for a scoring opportunity but unfortunately his shot at the posts drifted slightly wide.
Craigbane continued to put our defence under pressure and they hit the post in the 12th minute and hit a wide two minutes later. We almost drew level in the 18th minute but our attack was stopped and with a number of defenders out of position Craigbane seized the opportunity and broke down the field at pace and Keelan Clerkin committed a foul on the 13m line which they duly converted. They increased their lead in the 20th minute when they shot over the bar from close range to open up a 0-3 lead. However, a decisive break came in the 22nd minute when Dwayne Rooney was fouled on the 45m line and he lunched a high ball into the Craigbane goal mouth which was not properly dealt with and Mark McGuirk beat his marker to send the ball crashing pass the Craigbane goalie to draw the side’s level.
The hardest thump of the game occurred in the 25th minute when two of our own players Colin Quinn and Rory Carroll clashed with each other. Afterwards, the two guys were acting tough saying “I didn’t feel anything”!
We took the lead in the 27th minute when Johnny Reilly carrying out his defensive duties stopped a Craigbane attack and picked out Conor McGeough who set up Martin Carroll who was fouled on the 13m line and it was a simple tap over for Dwayne Rooney. The remainder of the half Craigbane slotted over two points, one from a free kick in the 28th minute and the other from play just before the break to leave the half time score Craigbane 0-6 Rockcorry 1-2.
During the interval our team management brought on Paul McKeown for Conor McGeough.
Like the first half Craigbane made a flying start and were awarded a free in the first minute but oddly they kicked it wide. However, they made amends for the earlier miss moments later when a shot by Craigbane drifted wide but the referee seen an infringement and awarded Craigbane a free in on the 13m line which was duly converted. We responded almost instantly when Mark McGuirk was brought down 25m from goal and Dwayne Rooney once again stood up to take the free and sailed the ball over the bar to close the gap to a single point.
Craigbane started to apply more pressure and superb defending by our defence, in particular Ryan Sharkey and Garry Calvert, broke down the attack and fed the ball to Noel Carroll who found Paul McKeown and he set up Dwayne Rooney for a scoring opportunity but Dwayne’s shot drifted to the right of the goals but Mark McGuirk never gave up and kept the ball in play and turned his marker and his attempt hit the upright and Craigbane defence gained possession to clear their lines.
After a short delay to allow a Craigbane player receive treatment the game resumed with a throw-up which Craigbane won and they set up an another attack and scored a goal. They extended their lead minutes later when they were awarded a free kick to open up a 0-5 lead.
However, despite the setback, it wasn’t long before we hit back as Paul McKeown’s pace was proving a constant threat to the Craigbane defence and he found Dwayne Rooney who notched over a fine point. We were awarded a 45, in the 11th minute, which Noel Carroll took quickly to Stephen McGuirk who was brought down approximately 25m from goals and Stephen took the free himself to close the deficit to 0-3 points.
Craigbane restored their four point lead in the 15th minute when they scored a fine point from play. We reduced the arrears after a strong solo run by Paul McKeown led to a free in on the 13m line and Stephen McGuirk had no trouble converting the free kick.
There is a well known saying, around Rock anyway, and I quote “don’t let them out easy”, and it proves the point, when carried out it does yield results! This was the case during the next passage of play when our forwards started to put the Craigbane defence under severe pressure and forced Craigbane into making a mistake. As a result, we gained possession and Mark McGuirk was fouled and Stephen McGuirk was on hand to lob the ball over the bar to close the deficit back to 0-2 points.
With ten minutes remaining Conor McGeough was brought back on for Liam Connolly, a substitution that proved very impressive, as arguably the best move of the game came in the 24th minute when we showed our true attacking abilities with some effective short passing between Mark McGuirk, Noel Carroll, Dwayne Rooney and Paul McKeown who laid off a pass for Conor McGeough and he blasted a powerful shot past the Craigbane goalie to hit the roof of the net to put us ahead by a single point. It was now game on and we increased our lead two minutes later when Dwayne Rooney curled over a free kick after Mark McGuirk was brought down.
Craigbane were not beaten yet and with only minutes remaining staged another attack and scored from play to close the deficit to a single point. During the closing stages we Craigbane continued to put our defence under severe pressure and we thought our efforts were good enough until the referee awarded a fortuitous free in to Craigbane, in the dying seconds, which they duly converted to leave the final score Craigbane 1-11 Rockcorry 2-8.
We can take a lot of positives from our performance as we continue to prepare for the start of the Intermediate league. Despite the absence of a number of key players through injuries namely Mark Daly, Keith Daly, Pauric Reilly, Seamus Carroll along with other key players that were unable to travel, Niall McKeown, Damien Matthews, Ciaran O’Hart, Michael Conlon, Barry Patterson, Eoin Fiztpatick, we showed that we have quality players on our panel. Every player challenged their opponent’s right to the end as they all want to perform and impress the team management which is very positive because with a strong bench there will be a healthy competition for places on the first team.
Contact
